2001 Natality

Births and Birth Rates

There were 365,092 live births to Texas residents in 2001, an increase of 0.5 percent (1,767 more births) from 2000, and an increase of 13.8 percent (44,378 more births) from ten years ago in 1992. (Figure 4)

In the ten-year period from 1992 through 2001, the proportion of births to white* mothers decreased every year, from 47.3 percent of all births in 1992 to 41.8 percent in 2001. At the same time, the proportion of births to Hispanic mothers increased from 39.3 percent of births in 1992 to 47.1 percent in 2001. The number of Hispanic births has exceeded the number of white births since 1996. The proportion of births to black mothers decreased from 13.4 percent in 1992 to 11.1 percent in 2001.

* Includes women of other and unknown race/ethnicity.

The 2001 crude birth rate of 17.2 births per 1,000 Texas residents is the lowest on record. The crude birth rate has decreased by 0.7 births per 1,000 residents from 2000. The rate for whites* dropped from 13.8 in 1992, to 12.9 in 2001. That of blacks declined from 20.9 in 1992 to 16.5 in 2001. The Hispanic rate went from 27.3 to 25.0. (Figure A)

The general fertility rate for Texas, which is the number of live births to Texas residents per 1,000 women ages 15 through 44, was 76.4 in 2001. In 1992, it was 77.6. (Figure B). Like crude birth rates, race/ethnicity-specific general fertility rates have been highest among Hispanics, and lowest among whites* over the past ten years. In 1992, the general fertility rates of whites*, black, and Hispanics were 60.5, 82.4, and 113.8, respectively. In 2001, white* females have stayed at the same fertility rate of 60.5, while black and Hispanic females' rates have decreased to 67.2 and 104.2.

More than half (54.9 percent) of Texas resident live births in 2001 were to mothers 20 to 29 years of age, and three-fourths (74.9 percent) were to mothers 20 to 34 years old (Table A). From 2000 to 2001, the percentage of teen-aged mothers declined. Mothers aged 10-17 accounted for 5.4 percent of the births in 2001, compared to 5.7 percent in 2000. The percentage of mothers aged 18 and 19 dropped from 9.5 to 9.3 percent. This decline affected all race/ethnicities in these age groupings. In the same timeframe, the percentage of births to mothers aged 30-39 increased from 19.4 to 20.0 percent for mothers aged 30-34 and decreased from 8.7 to 8.6 percent for mothers aged 35-39.

Table A.1. Percent distribution of live births by mother'sage and race/ethnicity; Texas Residents, 2001. Percent of Live Births**

Age

White*

Black

Hispanic

All Races

10-14

0.1

0.6

0.4

0.3

15-19

9.5

19.2

17.7

14.4

20-24

23.6

34.7

31.2

28.4

25-29

27.4

22.4

26.5

26.4

30-34

25.6

14.7

16.2

20.0

35-39

11.3

6.9

6.6

8.6

40+

2.4

1.5

1.3

1.8

* Includes women of other and unknown race/ethnicity.

** Denominator for percent excludes missing data.

Note: due to rounding, percents may not sum to 100%

Table A.2. Percent distribution of live births by mother's age and race/ethnicity; Texas Residents, 2001. Percent of Live Births for Selected Age Groups**

Age

White*

Black

Hispanic

All Races

10-17

2.8

7.6

7.2

5.4

18-19

6.8

12.1

10.9

9.3

20-29

51.1

57.1

57.7

54.9

30-34

24.6

71.8

73.9

74.9

35+

13.7

8.4

8.0

10.4

* Includes women of other and unknown race/ethnicity.

** Denominator for percent excludes missing data.

Note: due to rounding, percents may not sum to 100%

Mothers ranged from 11 to 53 years of age; the mean mother’s age was 26.2 years. Among birth certificates that included information on the father’s age (85.8 percent of all birth certificates), fathers ranged in age from 12 to 89. The mean father’s age was 29.3 years.

Age-specific birth rates, calculated as the number of live births per 1,000 women in the specified age group, were highest among women aged 20-24, followed by women aged 25-29 for all races combined (Table B). Hispanic women aged 20-24, followed by Hispanic women aged 25-29 and black women aged 20-24 had the highest age specific birth rates for individual race/ethnicities. White women were the only race/ethnicity whose highest age-specific birth rate occurred in the 25-29 age group. Age-specific birth rates for Hispanics were higher than rates for whites or blacks at every age group except for the ages of 10 to 14. Blacks and Hispanics had the same fertility in that age group. Whites in the youngest three age groups had the lowest fertility; blacks had the lowest fertility in the remaining age groups.

^ The general fertility rate. Numerator includes mothers of unknown ages; denominator is women 15-44 years of age.

* Rates were calculated using population data from the Texas Department of Health Office of Policy and Planning for 1984 through 1989, and from the Texas Sate Data Center, Texas A&M University since 1990. Births of unknown race/ethnicity, and of racial/ethnic groups other than white, black or Hipsanic were included with white for the purposes of calculating birth and fertility rates.

Marital Status

Overall, 68.9 percent of mothers reported being married. However, there were large differences in marriage rates across age groups and race/ethnicities (Table C). In general, white mothers were most likely to be married and black mothers least likely to be married. Very few mothers aged 14 and younger were married, although very young Hispanic mothers were most likely to be married and very young black mothers were least likely to be married. The likelihood of being married generally increased with the mother’s age for all race/ethnicities, although marriage rates for white mothers dropped slightly beginning with the 35-39 age group, and for Hispanic mothers at age 40 and up.

Beginning with 2001 data, the Bureau of Vital Statistics' annual report does not include tables or data based on the Kessner Index. (These data may still be obtained by request.) Please see the sources at the end of this chapter for more information regarding strengths and weaknesses of various prenatal care utilization indexes1, 2.

The Bureau of Vital Statistics' annual report still includes data on the month in which prenatal care began because it is one of the indicators suggested by the CDC's Healthy People 2010 initiative3.The Kessner index data in Table 13 has been replaced with data on the mother's marital and educational status.

Overall, 6.4 percent of mothers reported using tobacco during their pregnancy and 0.9 percent reported consuming alcohol. Of mothers who reported using tobacco during their pregnancy, 11.8 percent delivered low birth weight infants, compared to 7.2 percent of births to non-smokers. Of births to mothers who reported using alcohol during their pregnancy, 10.8 percent were low birth weight, compared to 7.5 percent for women who used no alcohol.

Risk Factors and Birth Complications

In 2001, slightly less than one third (31.9 percent) of birth certificates indicated a risk factor. A comparable share of white women (33.3 percent) reported at least one risk factor. Black women had a higher rate of risk factors at 40.3 percent, while Hispanic women had the lowest rate at 28.7 percent. The most frequently reported risk factor was hypertension, which was checked on 3.8 percent of birth certificates.

The overall rate of complications during labor, delivery, or both was 25.4 percent. Back women had the highest rate of complications, at 28.3 percent. One quarter of white women and 25.1 percent of Hispanic women reported complications. The most frequently reported complication was moderate to heavy meconium, reported on 4.6 percent of birth certificates.

Place of Delivery and Birth Attendent

Nearly all Texans who gave birth in 2001 did so in a hospital (99.2 percent). A small number occurred in licensed birthing centers or at home (0.4 percent each), or other locations (negligible).

Physicians delivered 94.5 percent of infants born to Texas residents. Certified nurse-midwives attended 4.7 percent of all births and lay midwives attended 0.5 percent. The remainder, about 0.3 percent, were delivered by other types of attendants, such as EMS workers, taxi drivers, or relatives.

Obsterical Procedures and Delivery

The vast majority of birth certificates had at least one obstetrical procedure indicated. The most frequently reported procedure was the use of fetal monitoring, which was checked on approximately 90 percent of birth certificates.

In 2001, 71.8 percent of births were vaginal deliveries, 1.3 percent were vaginal deliveries after a previous C-section, 15.2 percent were primary C-sections, and 11.5 percent were repeat C-sections. Of the vaginal births, 7.1 percent involved the use of vacuum, forceps, or both. Forceps or vacuum were also reported in 2.6 percent of the C-section births. The percentage of C-section deliveries has been gradually increasing, reaching 26.7 percent in 2001.

Abnormal Conditions and Congenital Anomalies

Hispanic infants were less likely to have an abnormal condition as a newborn and were slightly less likely to be diagnosed with a congenital anomaly than were white or black infants. Overall, 8.2 percent of 2001 births reported an abnormal condition of the newborn, compared to 7.1 percent of Hispanic births, 8.9 percent of white births, and 10.0 percent of black births. The most frequently reported abnormal condition was assisted ventilation for less than 30 minutes, which was indicated on 2.8 percent of birth certificates.

Congenital anomalies followed a similar pattern. The overall rate was 1.0 percent, with 0.9 percent of Hispanic births, 1.0 percent of white births, and 1.3 percent of black births reporting a congenital anomaly. The most frequently reported class of congenital anomalies on the birth certificate was musculoskeletal anomalies, which were reported on 0.4 percent of birth certificates.

Low Birth Weight and Very Low Birth Weight

There were 27,585 low birth weight (under 2,500 grams) infants born to Texas residents in 2001, which is 7.6 percent of live births (Table E). The rate was 7.4 percent from 1999 to 2000. Since 1991, low birth weight infants have increased from 7.0 percent to 7.6 percent of live births.

The risk of giving birth to a low birth weight infant remains much higher for black mothers (12.9 percent) than for Hispanic mothers (6.9 percent) or white mothers (6.9 percent). The incidence of low birth weight infants is higher among the youngest and oldest mothers. In 2001, 11.9 percent of births to mothers ages 14 and younger and 10.5 percent of births to mothers ages 40 and older were low birth weight.

A total of 4,808 births (1.3 percent of live births) were very low birth weight (under 1,500 grams). This rate is unchanged from 2000. As with low birth weight, the risk of having a very low birth weight infant was highest for black mothers, and for mothers ages 14 years and younger. Interestingly, 1.7 percent of mothers over age 40 had very low birth weight infants, which is the same percentage of very low birth weight births as mothers aged 35-39. The percentage of births to women 40 and over is down from 2000, when 2.1 percent of the women in that age group had very low birth weight births.

In 2001, male infants accounted for 51.2 percent of all births (186,774) and female infants accounted for 48.8 percent (178,318). The majority of all births were either first children (36.7 percent) or second children (30.1 percent). Third children accounted for 17.1 percent of all births, fourth children 6.8 percent, and fifth children 2.4 percent.

There were 354,967 singleton births, accounting for 97.2 percent of all births. Twin births accounted for 2.7 percent of all births, with approximately 4,841 sets of twins born. In addition, there were approximately 135 sets of triplets, eight sets of quadruplets, and one set of quintuplets.

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